CHRISTMAS 2018

   We often say that Christmas commemorates the birth of Christ.  That needs some clarification.  Christmas commemorates the birth of Jesus.  Is there a the difference?

   Genesis 1 tells us that when God created the universe it was a wasteland.  Immediately a mighty wind blew over it.  That wind signifies that the Spirit of God was in the wasteland from the very beginning.  In the Hebrew mindset we could say that God "anointed" the newborn universe with the Spirit's presence.  From the beginning the universe was God's "Anointed One."

   Hebrew has a word for the Anointed One."  It is Messiah.  The English translation of Messiah is "The Christ Reality."  The Christ Reality, or Christ, for short, is the universe wondrously "anointed" with the presence of God.

   There is nowhere in the universe where God is not present as the Christ Reality.  Nowhere!  Since we tend to imagine God as a particular person, e.g., an old man flying in the sky, a shepherd, etc., it might be better instead of saying "God"  I say, "Divinity."  Divinity is present in the all the galaxies, in  all the galaxies and our sun and moon, in earth's soil, trees, rocks, plants, animals and of course in us.  Divinity is also present in the things we have made, e.g., tables and chairs, houses, schools, bridges, etc., etc.  Divinity is even present in the keyboard and monitor of your computer.  If Divinity was absent from someone or something, they would not exist.  All is Christ!

    Take a moment to imagine he whole universe, world and everything and everyone in it  aglow with the inner presence of Omnipresent Divinity.   This is the universal Christ Reality.

    An important note:  All this does not mean that the universe and we are God.  That is pantheism, which means God is all that exists.  No.  I'm saying that God is in all that exists.  That is called pan-en-theism.  Another way to see this is to say that all that exists is immersed in Divinity.  Theologian Teilhard de Chardin said we live in a "Divine Milieu," a divine atmosphere or ambiance.

   The Second Person of the Holy Trinity is Infinite and Eternal.  

The  Universal Christ Reality, Divinity in the Universe, was born 13.8 billion years ago.  

Jesus was born 2000 years ago.

   Jesus is Eternal-Infinite God, Who is present throughout the universe as the Christ Reality, born on earth in the form of a 1st century mid-eastern Jewish male.  No wonder the angels sang, "Glory to God in the highest!"  They were singing of the most wonderful event in the history of the world!

   From the first moment of his conception in Mary's womb, Jesus was aglow with Divine presence.  He is the Light of the World having come to live with us with the gift of God's eternal, overflowing Love.  He is the One who came to show us the Way, the Truth and the Life.  With him and in him, we walk the way of our life on earth toward eternal life.  We live in him and his teachings as the life-giving Truth; and we live in his life because he is the fullness of life.

   Jesus is all humanity's personal link to God.  Everyone comes to God through Jesus.  People of faith and also those who have not ever heard of Jesus can be saved.  Salvation is open to those who live a life of consistent good will and conscience in love. (1)  Jesus is truly God's greatest gift to the world.

   So on Christmas Day we celebrate the most glorious event in the world's history, the birth of the man who brought God's Infinite, Eternal, Overflowing Love to us as a special gift for our lives here on earth and into eternity.

    And we sing with the angels, "Joy to the world, the Lord has come!"
  

(1) Second Vatican Council, Constitution on the Church, No. 15






      

    
    

TOMORROW'S SPIRITUALITY

   Vatican II said we have to read the signs of the times.  Today's physicists have given us a new sign that is as shocking as Galileo's claim that the earth revolves around the sun.  This breakthrough will have a major influence on our theology and especially on our everyday spirituality.  So it is worth at least this one Post.

    I'll do my best to explain it one step at a time.  And I welcome comments, corrections, etc.

    Step 1:  Until now, physicists understood the universe, including earth and ourselves, to be made up of physical, material beings.  In their terms, everything and everyone is made of atoms.  And atoms are made up of little balls called sub-atomic particles.

     Step 2:  Today's physicists have discovered that atoms are not material!  They are not made of material particles.  They are made of energy.  

     Step 3:  Energy is usually described as the ability to do work, or to be something. Energy is potential, or possibility.  Energy  is not yet something material.  Energy moves in waves.  So energy is immaterial waves of possibility, i.e., of possible material things and people.

     Step 4:  The entire universe and everything and everyone in it is made of energy.  Since energy is not material, everything is immaterial.  Immaterial energy moves in immaterial "energy waves."  The universe is a made of up an infinite number of waves of possibility. 

     Step 5:  The universe expresses itself in the form of immaterial, living, conscious beings, e.g., immaterial insects, animals, ourselves.  Therefore, the universe itself must be living and conscious.  In fact, the universe is living consciousness!   The universe is living awareness, universal being awake!

     We live in a universe that we are aware of, and that is aware of us!  

     Step 6:  This new consciousness gives us a new way to try to understand who God is.  But first we must understand that God is Absolute Mystery.  Mystery in this context is not ignorance, as in a Detective Novel in which we slowly find out who the murderer was.  Mystery, as it applies to God, is Reality that is so great that it is inexhaustible.  This means that the more we understand about God, the more there will be to understand, without end.

    So our understanding of who God is is and always will be a human construct, limited by our human nature.  That said, we can now say that since we are space/time, living, conscious images and likenesses of God, we can say that God is Eternal-Infinite Living Consciousness or Awareness.  More fully, we can say that:

     God is Eternal-Infinite, Living, Creative, Saving and World-Sanctifying and Evolving, Loving Consciousness/Awareness.

     It will greatly help us in understanding who God is if we put aside our images of God as Someone, e.g., an old man with a white beard,  "up there" or "out there."  It gets worse when we try to imagine God as up there and everywhere down here at the same time. 

     With this new understanding, we can image God as filling the universe and earth with Living, Creative, Saving and World-Sanctifying and Evolving Love-Consciousness.  This may take some time but it will be well-worth the effort, for the sake of our ongoing spiritual maturity and our Christ-like efforts in and for today's society.  

     Step 7:  God's Eternal-Infinite Love-Consciousness is what Jesus took to himself at the instant of his conception in Mary's womb.  If we want to "see" the divine Love-Consciousness, we can look at Jesus.  
      (Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.  John 14:9)

     Step 7:  How do we get from being immaterial waves of possibility, to being three dimensional, solid figures living in a three dimensional, solid world?

     Here's what the physicists tell us:  Using its infinite possibilities, the living-conscious universe creates individual, immaterial possibilities, e.g., immaterial galaxies with their immaterial stars and planets, our immaterial moon and earth with its immaterial soil, water, air, fish, animals, and immaterial selves.  All are immaterial possibilities.

     We ourselves are a spirit, i.e., an immaterial soul with an immaterial brain and immaterial body with immaterial senses.  The universe puts the possible idea of a material earth and our material selves into our mind.  Our immaterial mind shows these possibilities to our immaterial brain.  Our immaterial brain excites our immaterial senses to sense these immaterial possibilities as if they are three dimensional, material objects in a three dimensional world and universe.  

     We are living, conscious, free, active participants in the conscious universe.  We use our consciousness to create the three dimensional world and universe we live in!  (For the scientifically minded, we create a hologram.)

     As images and likenesses of God, we are called and empowered to act like God and care for the world that we create by bringing it the peace, justice and love of Christ.  We are here to help "Thy Kingdom Come...on Earth."

                                                      Sing to the Lord a new song,
                                                     Sing to the Lord, all the earth.
                                                  Sing to the Lord, bless his name,
                                              Announce his salvation, day after day
                                             Tell God's glory among all the nations;
                                        Among all the people, God's marvelous deeds.
                                                                                             (From Psalm 96)